Category Archives: Fighting Back

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Back very soon, in the meantime this is from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and gives details of the upcoming week of action to coincide with the Paralympic Games. Please spread the word and get involved if you can.

DPAC Week of Action- September 4th-10th

Sunday September 4th pop-up art action – if anyone wants to take part in this please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net as further information will not be made public. This will go live on-line at 2pm

Monday September 5th Independent Living Day. Lobby and report in parliament following the horrendous cuts to care and support funding for personal assistance following the closure of the Independent Living Fund in 2015. Committee Room 21 from 2-4pm. Please allow about 20- 30 minutes to get through security

Afterwards 5pm at College Green opposite parliament for fun and festivities DPAC-style.

Thursday September 8th An online day of action for all. More details will be published on website nearer the time.

Saturday September 10th International Conference, Resistance:Beyond Borders from 10.30am-4.30 pm at Resource for London, 356 Holloway Rd, London N7 6PA.
Speakers from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Greece, Ireland and Germany.
See Conference 10th Sept Disabled Peoples’ Resistance: building beyond borders
To book a place please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net and give details of any access and dietary needs. Limited places available.

I was fucking angry when I wrote this post in the early aftermath of the referendum and I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Of course not everyone who voted Remain was part of the pampered middle class and some of the racism from the Leave campaign was as vile as anything we have seen in decades. I should have mentioned that, and equally that Remain were all too happy to exploit racism when it suited them. And I forgot to mention that Nigel Farage is a cunt.

I was angry though, at the sneering abuse from a metropolitan elite that assumed working class communities were racist, thick or uneducated because they refused to vote in the interests of the privileged. I was furious, and astonished, that a vote for an institution that would rather non-Europeans fleeing war drown in the sea than cross its hallowed borders was presented as the anti-racist choice. And I was dismayed that EU imposed austerity, that has brought such devastation to so many lives, was air-brushed away in favour of some sentimental notion of harmony that is apparently so flimsy it will fall apart unless it is imposed by an authoritarian neo-liberal superstate.

As ever, there was little thought for the poorest in the EU referendum, wherever they came from. No cares at all for the EU migrants set to face a four year freeze on benefits in the event of Remain winning. A wilful ignorance of EU rules that were already leading to the deportation of homeless migrants and which are soon to be used to attack those who have come from Europe and can’t find a job – or who don’t earn enough money. And of course these rules are set by an EU Parliament that has little more than a handful of Black or ethnic minority MEPs but dozens from the far right. Fortress Europe as a force for anti-racism? Don’t make me fucking laugh.

It is clear that class, and perhaps more precisely income, was one of the largest drivers of the vote to leave the European union. As voices from the forgotten North have pointed out, there are many communities that have nothing left to lose and who hope, as we should all hope, that any significant change could be a change for the better. That just for once the powerless could seize some control and inflict a crushing blow on the bankers and bureacrats that have driven so many into destitution.

Of course many of these voices were drowned out as television crews scoured the poorest parts of the UK looking for the most racist person they could find and giving them unprecedented air time in a bid to smear the entire working classs. Yes, immigration was a factor in some people’s vote, but rarely the only factor. The Remain campaign though, and the media that supported them, were intent on portraying this as the sole reason anyone could possibly want to leave the decaying monstrous European Union.

It is true that immigration often leads to economic growth and that this can increase jobs. There is ample evidence to support this. But to claim that these benefits are felt uniformly across society is a deception. The sad fact is that austerity plus the current neoliberal management of migration has impacted on housing, wages and services in some areas, and in particular in places that were already desperately poor to begin with. These impacts may be relatively small in economic terms, but when you’ve got fuck all then relatively small can be the difference between keeping a roof over your head or not.

This may be an uncomfortable truth for the left, which is rightly committed to anti-racism, but it is a truth. To insist that people are liars or racists when they describe what is happening in their lives is a path that will divorce the left from the poorest members of the working class completely. In many cases it is multi-cultural, multi-ethnic communities that are raising these concerns, places far more diverse than the latte-slurping metropolitan enclaves where white middle class self-styled anti-racists only ever speak to a migrant when they are at the check-out in Waitrose. It is time to listen, without pre-judging, to what many working class people in the poorest parts of the country are saying.

That does not mean pandering to racists, in fact the opposite urgently needs to take place. More than ever racism must be confronted, whether that’s organised fascists or loud mouthed dickheads who’ve deluded themselves that just because the UK voted out of the EU it means we all agree with their spiteful bigotry. But it does mean having difficult conversations, and thinking difficult thoughts and recognising that having concerns about immigration policies, at a time of savage austerity, does not mean someone is automatically a closet nazi or swivel-eyed extremist.

There has been no attempt by the government to mitigate the scarcity caused by austerity in deprived areas that have also seen high levels of migration. In fact they have done the opposite with vicious cuts to benefits and vital services. If that causes divisions in our class then that is all the better for their neoliberal aims. Migration – a normal human phenomena – has been weaponised by capital across Europe to drive down the living standards of the working class. Free movement was not granted so we could all have nicer holidays, but to create a flexible, mobile, precarious workforce to allow the continent to compete with China, India, Brazil, or whoever this week’s scary foreign bogeyman is.

That doesn’t mean free movement is automatically bad just because it has been imposed by capitalists – the ability to live, visit and work in any Euopean country is truly a wonderful thing. It is a freedom that is certain to continue even with the UK outside of the EU. But it costs over seventy quid these days just for a fucking passport. That’s a week’s money for someone on the dole before they even step on a boat. And if they do get on a boat they’ll lose their benefits because you aren’t allowed to go abroad if you’re claming Jobseeker’s Allowance. At a time of such rampant inequality this freedom to travel across the continent is invisible to the poor. Many who voted Leave will have never set foot in another European country – not because they are racists, not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t afford it.

The dream of a truly integrated Europe, or indeed world, will never be anything but a middle-class fantasy under current economic policies and whilst the poorest are suffering like never before. Fascism is stalking many countries despite their membership of the European Union. If there is one thing that is certain it is that they are organising here as well. The political chaos that has ensued in the wake of the referendum is creating a vacuum at the heart of the UK’s political system. That is a fucking opportunity. The far right know this and the more the liberal left sneers at the thick racists who didn’t do what they wanted then the stronger fascism becomes. There seem some who will almost relish any increase in far right activity, as an opportunity to say ‘I told you so’. This is a truly treacherous position. There is no excuse for standing on the sidelines now, whichever way you voted.

The UK is facing a period of political instability that has not been seen in generations. There is barely even a government at the moment and the Tory party are just as split as Labour. We are about to see an unelected, inexperienced Prime Minister trying to hold onto power during a period of enormous turbulence. Meanwhile austerity continues apace with the introduction of Universal Credit set to cut the incomes of the poorest even further. It is easy to generalise, and I have done, there were many subtleties at play during the EU referendum. But what can’t be ignored is that a large proportion of the working class demanded change and politicians are terrified. The working class is back in the game, let’s make sure we stay there.

And that means taking real action, not just shouting slogans or marching pointlessly behind ever more irrelevent leaders. It means those that may have concerns about immigration policies standing side by side with immigrants themselves against racism and benefit cuts because we are always stronger together – and there is a difference between policies and people. It also means those from more affluent areas listening to and trying to understand what many people in the North, Wales and parts of the South, have been saying – despite being ignored – for over three decades.

It will require doing the hard work, the boring stuff, and an anti-fascism that not just engages in set piece punch ups with the far right but addresses the reason those cunts even exist. Most of all it means a class united, whatever people’s race, colour or creed- with no tolerance for bigotry, including the elite, liberal sneering at the poor that has been all too evident the last few weeks. Because then we might actually start to fucking win some stuff. And that will mean another Europe really is possible.

The jumped up little scrotes who have used the referendum result as an excuse to racially abuse and attack people need to be exposed and dealt with like the stain on our class that they are. Whether you are Remain or Leave, don’t know or don’t fucking care, it has rarely been more important to unite behind migrant communities, to confront racism and ensure that the (barely) organised far right are not able to profit from recent events.

Another future is still possible in the wake of the chaos the referendum has brought. But it will not be achieved by a working class at each other’s throat. As the parliamentary Labour Party embarks on the longest suicide note in history then it is down to all those who want a better UK, for everybody who lives here, to act.

That means solidarity and class before whatever country someone happens to have been born in. It means claimants, disabled people, migrants, tenants, low paid workers, students and all those fucked over by five years of austerity escalating the fight against the pampered rich to the point where that is the fucking story that is dominating the front pages.

The campaign by cleaners, currently on permanent strike after facing redundancies and poverty pay at offices managed by one of the world’s richest companies, is a good place to start.

The cleaners work at 100 Wood Street in the City of London, a plush office block housing corporate giants like JP Morgan and Schroders. The building is managed by global real estate firm CBRE who recently contracted Thames Cleaning and Support Services Limited (Thames) to take over cleaning the offices. According to grassroots union United Voices this led to several staff being illegally sacked. To make up for the lack of workers the existing cleaners will be expected to put up with an ever more punishing workload. The company also refuses to pay the London Living Wage.

In response the cleaners have gone on permanent strike which is now entering its fourth week. Several lively demonstrations have also been held. Thames, who have blamed building managers CBRE for the shit wages being paid, took out a £20,000 injunction to try and prevent cleaners from protesting or picketing outside the building they work in. Funny how there is always enough money to attack the poor when they protest but never enough to stop them being poor.

Another demonstration is being held tomorrow, Wednesday 29th June, at 5pm to defend the strike. Meet at 100 Wood Street EC2V, just round the corner from St Paul’s tube. Many of the cleaners are migrants and along with their union are fighting for better wages and conditions for all those in low paying sectors. This is what united working class resistance looks like. They urgently need support. If you can’t make the protest please share the facebook event and you can tell CBRE what you think at: @CBRE

The pampered middle classes of the so-called left are furious. “Racists” they spit from their white only enclaves whilst Eastern Europeans on the minimum wage clean up their shit in the background. How dare the poor not vote the way the privileged demanded. What betrayal, they rage, that those with nothing might have put house prices, foreign holidays and cheap au pairs at risk.

The likelihood of course is that none of those things are will be significantly affected. There will certainly be no forced deportations or militarised borders. The negotiations to leave the EU will be a swamp that may yet end more political careers. Up to two million UK citizens living in the EU is a big bargaining chip for the Brussels bureacrats. No dramatic change is coming overnight.

But even the merest chance that that just for once politics might actually affect them is enough to send the metropolitan elite into meltdown. Now we will see the nasty side of the latte slurping lefties who pretended to be on our side. The contempt for the most marginalised that has simmered for generations is already on full display. They will gloat to the thick racists that King Boris is coming with the most right wing administration in history. They will secretly cheer if more cuts are announced. And they don’t even seem to have noticed that the leader of a government that has attacked the working class like never before has just resigned in humiliation. David Cameron – the pig-fucking posh boy has gone. No matter what your views on the referendum if that isn’t a reason to raise a glass then you have no soul.

To believe this vote was purely about immigration is a comfortable deception for the privileged. Better that than it representing a war cry from the powerless and a plague on all elites, left or right. It is true that migration has hit working class wages in some sectors and placed pressure on housing and services in some areas* whilst the only response from those unaffected – or who have benefitted – has been disdain. But it is equally true that if people got paid properly, if the social security system had not been demolished, if the NHS were adequately funded and there was a council house for everyone, then few would really give that much of a shit about immigration policy. This referendum was the result of all out class war waged on those with least that has driven millions into insecurity and often desperate poverty. And the poorest, the ordinary, the forgotten and the dismissed have fought back in the only way that was possible. The working class fucking bites. Get used to it.

Because what is now needed is escalation on all fronts. It’s time to move beyond marching or empty speeches, and to forge a struggle that makes the ruling class tremble. To not allow racists, or fascists, to exploit this result, but to take, and keep the political initiative. To show any Tory or Labour politician who thinks this result justifies more attacks on the poor that they are as out of touch as ever. The EU, an institution that is neo-liberal to the core and an austerity machine, has been defeated in the UK. The architects of cut throat capitalism are in disarray. There will never be a bigger opportunity, the future is there for the taking and we have more power than we ever dreamed of. So let’s put aside any differences the last few weeks have created, and start to fight, really fight for a country that is actually worth living in. For everybody, no matter where they came from.

*This sentence was amended slightly as it was too broadly drawn. and that affected the tone of the piece. Sloppy writing, sorry.

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Disabled people have called a day of action against notoriously crap Capita on July 13th

Vital benefits – designed to meet the additional costs of living with a disability – have been stripped away completely from over 120,00 people DWP statistics revealed this week.

Over a quarter of those previously claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have lost their benefits after being re-assessed by a private company as no longer having sufficient care or mobility needs to qualify for help. Savage new benefit eligibility tests have been introduced as part of the switch to Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which is gradually replacing DLA. So far 27% of those facing this re-assessment have lost their benefit with hundreds of thousands of people still to be tested. Originally the government claimed 20% of people would lose their benefits due to the change-over. Chillingly it now appears it could be much worse. For newly disabled people the situation is even more dire, with only 48% of new claims for PIP being successful.

“ATOS and Capita are making a killing from conducting sham PIP assessments which are seeing thousands of legitimate claimants having their benefits reduced, their incomes slashed and their motorbility cars removed.”

It is time to up the struggle and to demand that the corporate assessors #DoNoHarm”

Scores of police were drafted in to protect Philip Green’s profits at the last Topshop protest. Despite this he does everything he can to get out of paying tax. And they call benefit claimants scroungers.

The United Voices of the World Union (UVW) are reporting that a Topshop cleaner has been sacked in advance of national protests demanding the company pay their cleaners a real living wage.

According to UVW:

“Carolina (see picture), one of the “Topshop Two”, who is a single mother from Ecuador, has just been SACKED by Topshop’s union busting contractor Britannia Services Group. Her only crime was to join a union and protest her poverty wages.

In other words as Philip Green buys another £100 million yacht, one of his cleaners is sacked for asking for a living wage of £9.40 per hour.

Carolina and her colleague Susana, who together make up the Topshop Two, were both previously suspended. Susana remains suspended.”

At least 17 towns and cities in the UK and Ireland will hold demonstrations against Topshop this Saturday (14th May 16) as part of a long-running and militant campaign against the poverty wages and appalling conditions suffered by their cleaners. In London protesters will head to their flagship store at Oxford Circus where despite the cost of living in the capital cleaners are paid little more than the minimum wage. Topshop are owned by vile tax-avoiding billionaire Philip Green.

Astonishingly Top Shop have tried to avoid responsibility for their cleaner’s pay by insisting it is nothing to do with them and they contract out the cleaning services. Cleaners at the company are technically employed by Britannia Services Group, a company run by David Shaw. Yet in 2010 Britannia lost an Employment Tribunal hearing after sacking a shop cleaner on the apparent insistence of Arcadia – Top Shop’s parent company. The cleaner had denied allegations by Arcadia that she had engaged in abusive behaviour whilst working at the company’s Outfit Clothing Store, but she was sacked anyway. The tribunal found that Britannia acted unreasonably due to not asking Arcadia to reconsider their position after receiving the cleaner’s denial of the allegations against her.

It appears that Arcadia don’t want to take responsibility for their cleaner’s grievances, but are quite happy to put pressure on their contractors to sack people when it suits them. Whether Arcadia have used similar pressure in the recent sacking is unknown. Whatever the truth, if Topshop won’t pay their cleaners properly than let’s make make Topshop pay some other way.

Join the protests on Saturday 14th May and let’s start holding vile parasites like Philip Green to account. In London meet outside Topshop in Oxford Circus from 5pm. Demonstrations are also due to be held outside the store’s branches in Liverpool, Dundee, Edinburgh, Dublin, Loughborough, Norwich, Belfast, Bristol, Sheffield, Nottingham, Taunton, Birmingham, Gloucester, Plymouth,Glasgow and Cambridge.

London doesn’t have a housing problem it has a rich people problem. Despite soaring homelessness in the capital, figures recently released by the government show that the number of homes left empty in the city has risen for the first time since 2009.

There are currently 59,881 empty homes in London. That is enough to house everybody currently living in emergency temporary accommodation in the city – and everyone sleeping on the streets. 20,000 of these properties have been empty over two years. These are not second homes, properties which are rented out or homes used for holidays. They are empty, abandoned in some cases, or more often deliberately left vacant as investment opportunities.

It is this that is likely to be the reason the number of empty homes is rising in the capital but falling everywhere else in the UK. Luxury penthouses built not for living in, just for making money out of. These cunts are so rich they can’t even be bothered to rent out the properties they own – they just sit back and profit as house prices soar. Or at least they did. The party may soon be over with central London house prices now starting to fall.

This is the legacy of Boris Johnson. A capital city remade as a grotesque monument to capital. The real people of London forced out, or condemned to a life on the margins whilst billionaires built their own corporate Disneyland. A sterile landscape of glass and steel now dominates the city whilst once beautifully chaotic streets are overrun with chain stores and wacky trust fund businesses selling bowls of cereal for a fucking fiver. There is no place for human life in this city at all. It is just a place that money lives now.

An army of security guards stalk the privatised city streets handing out fines to kids playing football or folk enjoying a quiet beer in the park. Racist cops ruthlessly shut down working class culture wherever they find it, even banning clubs from playing music they don’t like. Uniformed filth carrying machine guns glare at people on the public transport system. Occassionally they shoot someone. The message is stark and clear. This is not our city anymore, this is a giant bank where the crooks of the world can store their wealth. And so we must be constantly policed, always watched in case we present a threat to the pampered lifestyles of the wealthy minority.

According to charities the number of people who slept rough on the streets of London this winter rose by 15% in just one year to 2,561. Beneath the glitzy facade poverty stalks the city. Bodies huddle in shop doorways whilst champagne glasses clink in restaurants where a meal costs more than a week’s wages. Children go hungry in grotty hostels beneath empty shyscrapers where the flats cost millions of pounds yet no-one lives there. This is what Boris has created. A ghost-town in sky that has shut out the city’s light.

Quietly though, everywhere, people are organising. Thousands of people whose homes are under threat grow more militant everyday. Students are on rent strike across the capital. Towards the end of the 2011 riots a mob headed towards Notting Hill and Sloane Square, smashing up designer shops and attacking restaurants. Unlicenced and boisterous street parties are shaking the newly gentrified enclaves that once belonged to the working class. Tenants facing eviction are barricading themselves in their homes.

Direct action, disruption and outright defiance are the weapons of choice, not petitions, or voting, or boring marches. Everyone knows now who is too blame and where they live. A reckoning is surely coming. Be ready.

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